This application is based on and incorporates herein by reference Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-253884 filed on Aug. 24, 2001 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-318883 filed on Oct. 17, 2001.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a washer system of a vehicle, which discharges cleaning liquid to headlamps and front and rear window glasses of a vehicle to wash them.
2. Description of Related Art
A headlamp cleaner has been known to wash each corresponding headlamp of a vehicle when a corresponding switch is operated by a passenger (driver).
One of previously proposed headlamp cleaners includes a pair of discharge nozzles, a tank, and a single pumping apparatus. The discharge nozzles are arranged adjacent to left and right headlamps of the vehicle and discharge cleaning liquid to them. The tank is installed, for example, in an engine room and stores the cleaning liquid. The pumping apparatus is installed to the tank and is connected to each discharge nozzle through a corresponding hose or the like to supply the cleaning liquid to the discharge nozzle.
When the driver manipulates the corresponding switch and thus activates the pumping apparatus, the cleaning liquid pumped by the pumping apparatus is supplied to each corresponding discharge nozzle and is discharged toward the corresponding headlamp through each discharge nozzle. Since the headlamp cleaner can remove the dirt on the headlamps by only discharging the cleaning liquid, it does not require a wiper apparatus or the like, and therefore, has a simple structure.
Some types of previously proposed discharge nozzles are formed as an extendable discharge nozzle having a discharge opening at a distal end thereof. The extendable discharge nozzle is extended to a cleaning liquid discharge position for discharging the cleaning liquid to the corresponding headlamp only when the headlamp is washed. Generally, a piston/cylinder structure utilizing a hydraulic pressure of the cleaning liquid is used to form such an extendable discharge nozzle.
More specifically, for example, one end of a cylinder, which acts as a nozzle base, has a supply opening for supplying the cleaning liquid and is fixed to a vehicle body. An extendable nozzle serving as a nozzle discharge portion includes a piston portion and is provided with a cleaning liquid channel, which extends through the extendable nozzle. A segment of the extendable nozzle, which includes the piston portion, is placed inside the cylinder. Also, a coil spring serving as an urging means is provided in a space between the other end of the cylinder and the piston portion. Further, a discharge opening is made in the extendable nozzle at the end portion thereof that is positioned outside of the cylinder. A check valve is provided in the upstream of the discharge opening. The check valve allows communication between the cleaning liquid channel and the discharge opening only when a hydraulic pressure of the cleaning liquid exceeds a predetermined value.
The discharge nozzle having the above structure is placed in a retracted state when the piston portion of the extendable nozzle is urged by an urging force (or spring force) of the coil spring toward the one end of the cylinder. On the other hand, when the cleaning liquid pump is activated, and thus the hydraulic pressure of the cleaning liquid in a space between the one end of the cylinder and the piston portion rises, the piston portion is forced to move toward the other end of the cylinder by the hydraulic pressure against the urging force of the coil spring. Thus, the discharge nozzle is placed to an extended state (i.e., it has moved from the initial position to the cleaning liquid discharge position). When the hydraulic pressure of the cleaning liquid rises further in this state and exceeds the predetermined value, the check valve is opened, whereupon the cleaning liquid is discharged toward the headlamp from the discharge opening.
Furthermore, a washer apparatus associated with a wiper apparatus has been also known. This washer apparatus is operated when the driver manipulates a corresponding switch to wash a front window glass and a rear window glass of a vehicle.
Such a washer apparatus includes, for example, front and rear nozzles, a tank and one or more pumping apparatuses. The front and rear nozzles discharge the cleaning liquid toward the front glass and the rear glass, respectively. The tank is installed, for example, in the engine room and stores the cleaning liquid. Each pumping apparatus is installed to the tank and is connected to each corresponding nozzle through a hose or the like to supply the cleaning liquid to the corresponding nozzle.
With this arrangement, when the driver manipulates the corresponding switch for initiating supply of the cleaning liquid to the front nozzle and activates the corresponding pumping apparatus, the cleaning liquid pumped by the pumping apparatus is supplied to the front nozzle and is discharged toward the front glass through the front nozzle. On the other hand, when the driver manipulates the switch for initiating supply of the cleaning liquid to the rear nozzle and activates the corresponding pumping apparatus, the cleaning liquid pumped by the pumping apparatus is supplied to the rear nozzle and is discharged from the rear nozzle to the rear glass.
The cleaning liquid discharged over the front glass or the rear glass is wiped off together with the dirt by the wiper blades of the wiper apparatus. For this reason, the washer apparatus only has to wet the front glass or the rear glass with the cleaning liquid to suspend the dirt, and does not have to remove the dirt with a discharge of the cleaning liquid, thereby making it possible to use a compact pumping apparatus with a relatively low discharge pressure and a relatively low discharge rate.
With the previously proposed headlamp cleaner described above, however, the dirt on each headlamp is removed only by the discharge of the cleaning liquid as discussed above, and for this reason, the pumping apparatus needs to have a sufficiently high discharge pressure and a sufficiently high discharge rate of the cleaning liquid. Moreover, since the cleaning liquid supplied from the single pumping apparatus is discharged concurrently through the pair of discharge nozzles, the pumping apparatus needs to have a relatively high discharge pressure of the cleaning liquid and a relatively high discharge rate of the cleaning liquid, so that a relatively large pumping apparatus is required for the headlamp cleaner.
Particular, in the above arrangement, which includes the extendable discharge nozzle, the extendable discharge nozzle needs to be extended from the cylinder by a hydraulic pressure of the cleaning liquid against an urging force of the coil spring. As a result, a higher discharge pressure from the pumping apparatus is required, and thus a larger pumping apparatus is required.
Adopting such a larger pumping apparatus impairs the freedom of installation of the headlamp cleaner into the engine room where various kinds of components are tightly placed (due to a limited installation space) and causes an increase in cost because of its lower versatility.
Also, it is conceivable to integrate the tank of the window washer apparatus and the tank of the headlamp cleaner into a single tank. In such a case, the single tank needs to have a relatively large volume for storing the cleaning liquid. When the pumping apparatus of the window washer apparatus and the pumping apparatus of the headlamp cleaner need to be secured to the single tank, it is difficult to achieve the relatively large volume of the tank because of the space limitations.
The present invention addresses the above disadvantages. Thus, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a washer system for a vehicle capable of supplying a first discharge nozzle and a second discharge nozzle, which are provided to a vehicle on the right and left to correspond to the headlamps mounted on the right and left of the vehicle, with cleaning liquid at a sufficiently high discharge pressure and a sufficiently high discharge rate by using a compact pumping apparatus.
To achieve the objective of the present invention, there is provided a washer system including a tank, a first discharge nozzle, a second discharge nozzle, a front nozzle and a pumping apparatus. The tank stores cleaning liquid. The first discharge nozzle receives the cleaning liquid from the tank and discharges the cleaning liquid to a right headlamp of a vehicle. The second discharge nozzle receives the cleaning liquid from the tank and discharges the cleaning liquid to a left headlamp of the vehicle. The front nozzle receives the cleaning liquid from the tank and discharges the cleaning liquid to a front glass of the vehicle. The pumping apparatus is connected to the tank, the first discharge nozzle, the second discharge nozzle and the front nozzle and pumps the cleaning liquid of the tank to the first discharge nozzle, the second discharge nozzle and the front nozzle. The pumping apparatus includes a first pumping device and a second pumping device. The first pumping device includes two outlet openings and selectively discharges the cleaning liquid through a corresponding one of the two outlet openings that is selected depending on an operational state of the first pumping device. One of the two outlet openings of the first pumping device is connected to one of the first and second discharge nozzles to supply the cleaning liquid to the one of the first and second discharge nozzles, and the other one of the two outlet openings of the first pumping device is connected to the front nozzle to supply the cleaning liquid to the front nozzle. The second pumping device includes at least one outlet opening for discharging the cleaning liquid from the second pumping device. One of the at least one outlet opening is connected to the other one of the first and second discharge nozzles to supply the cleaning liquid to the other one of the first and second discharge nozzles.
To achieve the objective of the present invention, there is provided a washer system including a tank, a first discharge nozzle, a second discharge nozzle, a front nozzle and a pumping apparatus. The tank stores cleaning liquid. The first discharge nozzle receives the cleaning liquid from the tank and discharges the cleaning liquid to a right headlamp of a vehicle. The second discharge nozzle receives the cleaning liquid from the tank and discharges the cleaning liquid to a left headlamp of the vehicle. The front nozzle receives the cleaning liquid from the tank and discharges the cleaning liquid to a front glass of the vehicle. The pumping apparatus is connected to the tank, the first discharge nozzle, the second discharge nozzle and the front nozzle and pumps the cleaning liquid of the tank to the first discharge nozzle, the second discharge nozzle and the front nozzle. Each of the first and second discharge nozzles includes a nozzle base, which is secured to the vehicle, a nozzle discharge portion, which discharges the cleaning liquid to the corresponding one of the right and left headlamps and is slidable relative to the nozzle base between a retracted position and a discharge position, and an urging means for urging the nozzle discharge portion toward the retracted position. The nozzle discharge portion is moved relative to the nozzle base from the retracted position to the discharge position by a fluid pressure of the cleaning liquid supplied from the pumping apparatus to a cleaning liquid chamber defined between the nozzle base and the nozzle discharge portion. The nozzle discharge portion discharges the cleaning liquid, which is supplied to the nozzle discharge portion independently of the cleaning liquid chamber, to the corresponding one of the right and left headlamps. The pumping apparatus includes a first pumping device and a second pumping device. The first pumping device includes two outlet openings and selectively discharges the cleaning liquid through a corresponding one of the two outlet openings that is selected depending on an operational state of the first pumping device. One of the two outlet openings of the first pumping device is connected to one of the cleaning liquid chamber and the nozzle discharge portion of each of the first and second discharge nozzles to supply the cleaning liquid to the one of the cleaning liquid chamber and the nozzle discharge portion of each of the first and second discharge nozzles. The other one of the two outlet openings of the first pumping device is connected to the front nozzle to supply the cleaning liquid to the front nozzle. The second pumping device includes at least one outlet opening for discharging the cleaning liquid from the second pumping device. One of the at least one outlet opening is connected to the other one of the cleaning liquid chamber and the nozzle discharge portion of each of the first and second discharge nozzles to supply the cleaning liquid to the other one of the cleaning liquid chamber and the nozzle discharge portion of each of the first and second discharge nozzles.